I finished up my two days working with the children in el nido or the nest. The children in this room are 1-3 years old. I enjoyed participating in circle time with the kids and the Spanish songs got stuck in my head all day. This isn't a bad thing though because they're catchy. All of the women who work in this room are so friendly and work wonderfully with the children. The children themselves are impressive. I enjoying watching them independently work on the Montessori material. They can do so much more on their own than one would think. For example, after eating snack, the children clean their own glass plates. That's an impressive task especially for a 2 year old. I enjoyed playing outside with the children as well. They have tennis balls so playing catch with the kids was fun. I would show them how to hold their hands and then gently toss the ball to them. Some of the children really have a good throw. We also got to come up with a craft for the kids to do so I drew a butterfly on a piece of paper and then ripped up red tissue paper and blue napkins. We had the kids crumple the paper and napkins and glue them on the inside of the butterfly. We thought this would be good for their fine motor skills. Making the craft with the kids was my favorite part of the day. I am going to miss interacting with these adorable children.
We switched things up on Friday and took the children of 3MM to the beach. The day really flew by. I got assigned one child to walk to the beach with and to watch while at the beach. It was fantastic to get to interact with the primary kids for the first time. I loved to go out in the water with them and listen to their shrieks of joy as the waves washed over them. As I said before I was paired up with one child. He was very well behaved on the way there which was fantastic because we all had to cross the street at the same time. This is a hard task with all the motos and cars that fill the streets. The beach is so close to the school so it only took us about five minutes to get there. I think that it is great that the school takes the children to the beach. When we got to the beach we started out by playing in the sand. I was hoping that the child I was with was going to like being in the water because the teachers told us some children enjoy to sit back and watch. I love being in the water and it was very warm outside so I was thrilled when I asked the child I was with if he likes the water and he said yes.
I also experienced the difficulty of communicating with a child who doesn't speak the same language as you. At times I was wondering if the child I was with really understood what I was saying or if he was simply nodding his head in agreement. I tried to use gestures as much as I could to accompany what I was saying to help him understand. I would show him my hand when asking him to hold it. I would pat the ground to show him where I wanted him to sit when asking him to sit next to me. When asking him if he wanted to play in the sand I would sit down in the sand and play in the sand myself. I would start to walk towards the water when asking him if he wanted to go in the water. I think that these gestures really helped us to communicate.
After the beach we got to eat lunch with the children at the school instead of going to Dulce's house in La Cienega. The schools' lunch was rice, beans, avocado, and chicken. The food is always so good. There hasn't been a meal that I haven't liked so far. One child at the table was so cute he kept looking at everyone at the table and asking ¿bien? wondering if they were enjoying the food that they were eating. I was impressed with the children because when they were finished eating they would take their glass plate and carry it over to a garbage where they would scape the excess food off. Then they would place their plates into a bin so that they could be washed. I think that it is great that the children have this responsibility instead of having the teachers do it for them. By having them do it at school I think that it is more likely that they will do it at home as well.
On a side note I'm very excited that the kids in the primary room like the song that I chose to teach them. My song is the shark song. I first heard this song when completing my junior participation in a pre-k classroom at St. Amelia's. The children in this classroom loved the song and always wanted to sing it during transition times so I thought these kids would like it as well. Apparently they do. I haven't been in the primary room this week. I was only in there once last week when I taught them the song. The girls that have been in the primary room told me that the kids just love my song. I was so happy to hear this. I will be in the primary room on Monday so hopefully I will be able to witness their love for my song myself.